The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-09-16
Carloads of Meney.

Carloads al h&hey"
E,, ,,e,sors ,sarhaps. who read the
,55i.,,s ,,rts nj tho
''eq"'"'S
tscai operations % t"V S"'V''
give any consideration TO the FasV-
ness so3 sirnifcanre of these opera
-; w, u,,3 ~ rhe hundreds OF
'|"S 1-- h,
mll!'onS Oh Eo'o i" s''0 III -
uvy at Washington, but how lew per
| sons have n intelligent idea OF what
.,,,,l :, ~, nina f-rras reuuir.
49,. r-h,+,., ,n3 49,,
eu 70 ue>SFloe ne l'""I''sS "''
sets OF the government. Il Is oLh}
! when the au"..ttarous contents Of the
/ treasury vaults are weighed and
measured and ~latsd by the side OF
! articles ard commodities that are
daily handled by the masses that an
! iDreli--n. COMPREHENSION can be 0b-
| tanned uv the people of the financial
/ strength OF the treasury and the
treat extent OF the governments It's
! cal operations.
By reference to the latest published
statement OF treasury assets and la
bilities it is learned that among the
assets was S9Nl, O06,4 A. in gold and
nearly $3.50, 900, 600 IN silver, lncIud-
ing 81, 600, 900 OF trade dollars and
fractional coins. Taking up this
S2Sl,O 600, 900 OF gold and placing it
on scales | find that the gold held by
the treasury weighed $40 tons, and
if packed into ordinary carts, one ton
. to each cart, it would make a process
sion TWO miles long, allowing twenty
feet OF space for the movement OF each
horse and cart. The weighing of the
silver produces much more interesting
results. Running this over the scales
| find its weight to be 1896 tons.
Measuring it in carts, as III the case OF
the gold, the silver now held by the
treasury would require the services
of 1896 horses and carts to trans
port it and would make a procession
over twenty.one miles in length. The
surplus about which so much is said
in the daily newspapers amounts to
nearly S47, 900, 900, an increase of
So, 600, 900 since July /. Counted
as cold this surplus would weigh eight
ty-six and one-half tons. Counted as
silver it would weigh 1885 tons. Each
million OF gold adds 1858 pounds to
the surplus, and each million of silver
adds So, $50 pounds.
Applying cubic measurement to the
treasury gold and silver and piling
the two metals on Pennsylvania ave-
nue., as cordwood is piled before de-
livery to the purchaser, the gold would
measure thirty-seven cords and the
silver 400 cords, and both would ex-
tend from the treasury department
to Observation-Disclosures or from the
treasury o the pension Office in a
straight line, and forming a solid wall
eight feet high and four feet broad.
Extending these calculations and
comparisons to the interest bearing
debt, equally interesting results are
obtained. The public debt reached
the highest point in August, 1865
just twenty-five years ago-when it
was $2,38l, 53O,295. The general
reader viii better appreciate the vast
ness of this sum when informed that
it represents 70,156 tons of silver,
which would make a procession OF
carts that would extend from Rich
mond, Va, to a point twelve miles
north of Philadelphia, the distance it
would thus cover being 266 miles.
The interest-bearlng debt is now
mot including the Pacific railroad
bonds) S1,OOl, 979,85O, showing that
the sum paid has been $1,379, $685.
445, or more than one-half OF the
extend I54 miles if packed in carts
containing n ton each.